Punk rock in St. Hopes
'''Punk rock in St. Hopes '''developed quite differently to the rest of the United Kingdom. The punk rock of St. Hopes is widely recognized as having developed in 1974-1975, with St. Hopes High School students gathering around to form bands of their own that were radically opposed to the dominant progressive rock and burgeoning disco. The scene was the earliest punk scene in England but was not known to many outside of it until after punk became more widespread in 1976-1977. Notable bands that emerged from St. Hopes were The Cunt Sniffers, The Bloodsuckers, Zyklon BX, Shortwave, Tracy And The Beakers, Stupid Goths, The Cannibalism (formed by members of the Cunt Sniffers), The Death Camp, and Masters Of VD. Early beginnings (1974) St. Hopes High School was notorious for being almost broke. It's students were mostly anti-establishment, and, using rock music as a form of solace, had grown disillusioned with the music scene in Britain. As a result, many students began adopting radically different styles and began forming bands at home. 14 year old Avril Franklin formed a band with Timothy Hinklebottom (drums) and Tracy Beaker (bass) called Officially Pronounced Dead in 1974, the name being influenced by a Paul Is Dead clue. The band never played live, and a later released rehearsal tape comprises all of this band's material. They are the first St. Hopes punk band. Beaker left the band in June 1974 and formed her own band, Tracy And The Beakers, with Peter Ingham (guitar) and Ryan Patterson (drums). Franklin and Hinklebottom formed a new band with Franklin's boyfriend Oscar Dixon-Halliday (who renamed himself Oscar Cole) on guitar and bassist Donovan Butler in November 1974 called The Cunt Sniffers. For a brief period, it was only just the two bands that existed within the scene. Development (1975-1976) In January 1975, Stupid Goths was formed, with Abagail Hart (guitar, vocals), Kathy Krunch (bass) and Abby Salutefail Eure (drums). They often opened for the two aforementioned bands. The bands self-organized gigs for others to see them for free. Said Oscar Cole of the emerging scene: The town's local paper acknowledged the emerging movement in a June 1975 edition. It said: All of this occurred prior to the formation of the Sex Pistols. Hugh Cornwell of the Stranglers noted: A lot of the St. Hopes punks were aware of the emerging New York scene and the bands that congregated at the CBGB. Franklin stated that they knew about the Ramones long before their first album. The Sex Pistols opened for the Cunt Sniffers during a St. Hopes gig on January 21, 1976. John Lydon later expressed his surprise at the fact the scene already existed over there. The scene grew immensely in 1975. Soon, many of the bands were playing live at a club set up by members of the Cunt Sniffers, No Cunt's Land. In late November 1975, Franklin left the Cunt Sniffers and met Clare Thomas, who then recently christened herself 'Ingrid Dracula', after the character from the 1965 novel Young Dracula. The two decided to form their own band later that month, called The Bloodsuckers. Blane Whittaker (guitar, vocals) formed Masters Of VD with Stewart Critchley (bass) and Julian Hamley (drums) in April 1975. The Death Camp formed with Daisy Millar (vocals, guitar), Davina Berry (drums) and Mr. Apathy (bass) in May 1975. Self-admitted school nerd Rose Gupta, on guitar and vocals formed Shortwave also in May 1975, which also featured Gary (bass) and Arran Gregory (secondary guitar) and Darran Wilson (drums). This band took on a more post-punk and art rock sound but were nonetheless popular within the scene. Some of the St. Hopes punks caught eye of the emerging London scene and expressed their disdain for it as they felt they would take credit for causing the new wave. Many of the St. Hopes bands were not commercially successful anywhere else but their influence was prevalent. Many of them began supporting the London bands in 1976, where they were heavily criticized for being too young. During one Cunt Sniffers gig in 1976, the band were pelted with beer bottles amidst cries of "Go back to school!". Hinklebottom responded by kicking his drum kit into the audience, which prompted the rest of the band to chuck their instruments at the audience, injuring many. Pistols manager Malcolm McLaren witnessed this. The Cunt Sniffers released their debut LP, Fuck You, on November 29, 1976. It was the first British punk rock album. Zyklon BX formed in mid 1976, led by former Bloodsucker Robin Branaugh. Interaction with other scenes (1977) The St. Hopes bands were initially criticized by punk fans for being too young and not understanding the unemployment issues that plagued the country, but they grew to be accepting with the bands themselves; The Damned and the Bloodsuckers toured together in early 1977. The Stupid Goths would wind up being a large influence on gothic rock music, due to their name and style. However, they favored more prototypical emo lyrics. The owner of the CBGB in New York, Hilly Kristal, caught eye of the St. Hopes scene and arranged for many of it's bands to play a massive gig at the club. The resulting St. Hopes Punk Bash, which was filmed, took place on June 29, 1977, featuring many of the bands in the scene. The Bloodsuckers, The Cunt Sniffers, Tracy And The Beakers, The Stupid Goths, The Death Camp, Masters Of VD and Zyklon BX played at the club that day. It would leave a massive impact on American punk. Shortwave would later support Television at the club a month later. The Bloodsuckers toured Australia in 1977, opening for the Saints, Radio Birdman and The Victims. During a gig in Brisbane, Avril was hit in the head by a glass bottle, which prompted her to jump into the crowd and beat the heckler until he was near-death. The band also attempted to send a letter bomb to Joh Bjelke-Petersen, then Premier of Queensland, after they learnt from Australian punks that he was oppressive, but gave up when the explosive did not detonate in a test run. Most of the bands released content during 1977: The Cunt Sniffers released their second LP; Fuck You Even More, on April 24, 1977, Shortwave released their first LP Transmission Failiure on May 12, 1977, The Bloodsuckers released their self-titled debut on June 9, 1977, The Stupid Goths released their self-titled debut on September 24, 1977, the Death Camp released the single 'I Love The Fatherland' backed with 'No, Just Joking, Idiot' on October 10, 1977 and the Masters Of VD released the EP 'Infect' on December 24, 1977. Controversy and dissolution of the first wave (1978) On January 24, 1978, Daisy Millar was arrested in relation to the murder of a 26 year old Croydon man, Scott Huxley, cousin of Avril Franklin (whose real name is Jenny Huxley-Golden). According to witnesses, a teenage girl with light brown or brunette hair slashed Huxley 'more than 15 times' in a Croydon street, and the description matched Millar's. This set off a massive tabloid scandal that brought the St. Hopes punk scene to it's biggest mainstream attention. Avril was also questioned but police concluded she was not the suspect. However, on November 5, 1978, Millar was proven innocent as a witness came forward with a more detailed description of the suspect. The witness stated that the girl looked nothing like Millar facially and was much older. The suspect, 37-year old Sonya Brady, later confessed to the crime, and was given a 50-year sentence. Millar has stated many times that the situation had traumatized her. "I can't look at a police car in the street anymore without almost getting a panic attack. The whole thing has completely destroyed me, it'll take a good while before I have the energy, or motivation, to continue with the Death Camp.." Millar said in 1979. In 2018, she said: "I felt like I had PTSD for a few years after the whole thing. It was really horrible. I reckon it was karma for toying around with Nazi imagery..." The scandal was instrumental in singlehandedly dissolving the first wave of St. Hopes punk rock, as most of the bands split or moved on. Masters Of VD briefly went on hiatus before re-inventing themselves as a crossover thrash band in the early 1980s, The Cunt Sniffers became the Cannibalism in 1979 and began playing what would become known as powerviolence, The Bloodsuckers, influenced by the emerging new wave of British heavy metal, changed to a speed metal influenced direction, the Death Camp kept playing a traditional punk sound but with toned down lyrics, and Tracy and the Beakers split up in 1982 shortly before Beaker's death. Shortwave released another album, "Curated Curiousness", on April 29, 1978, before breaking up. Second wave's emergence (1987- 1990) Heavily influenced by the original St. Hopes punks, a new generation of punks began to emerge, inspired by the later alternative rock sounds of Tracy And The Beakers and the thrashy noise of later Bloodsuckers, Cannibalism and Masters Of VD and emerging American grunge groups like Nirvana, became the vanguards of the second wave of punk rock in St. Hopes. It was kickstarted by the band The Ninth Revolution, which consisted of Dan Morgan (guitar, vocals), Tom Tupper (bass) and Keri Summers (drums), who formed in 1987 and broke into the mainstream with their single "Time To Destroy" in the fall of 1989. The song's lyrics were a praise of the first wave punks and their inspiration on the new generation to challenge the mainstream themselves. Bands such as the grunge-influenced Lady J And The JayJays and even solo artists such as punk and metal influenced Zoe began to emerge in the late 1980s as a reaction to the hair metal scene. It was said to have started as many St. Hopes youth in the 1980s began listening to the first wave bands and feeling empowered and more motivated to rebel against the mainstream of their time. The 1990s to present (1991-present) In February 1991, Gary Gregory (Shortwave) was diagnosed with Stage IV pancreatic cancer. Given six months to live, Gary died in his home on April 29, 1991, aged 32. He was the first St. Hopes punk musician to die. Tragically, on August 21, 1991, Will Clarke, bassist of the Bloodsuckers, died in a motorcycle accident, aged 32 himself. Shortwave has not reunited since; The Bloodsuckers reunited for a tribute gig as a trio with Ingrid taking bass duties and Avril on full-time guitar in 1995. Blane, Stewart and Julian, the three members of Masters Of VD, formed a new modern punk group, Damaged Goods, in 1998. On September 24, 2002, Daisy Millar was found unresponsive without a pulse in the bathroom of No Cunt's Land, which had since been renamed to the St. Hopeless club. She was rushed to the hospital where just as she was about to be declared dead on arrival, she began showing a pulse again. She had suffered a massive cardiac arrest and in an extremely rare case, survived it barely. She was diagnosed with a heart condition in 1977, a situation which Millar told the hospital she couldn't remember. She suffered from anxiety attacks in the few years following, in which she described as an extremely uneasy feeling she would suffer another one brought about during the evening for three years. On May 27, 2009, Keri Summers (The Ninth Revolution) committed suicide by hanging. She was 37 years old. She had suffered from depression during the waning years of the decade, brought on about by years of drug use. Avril died from a heart attack on January 12, 2019, aged 58. Fashion The fashion of the St. Hopes punks was radically different to what would define punk fashion a few years later. Many of them adopted styles akin to the late 2000s scene subculture, especially Avril, who became a massive influence on gothic rock and emo fashion of the subsequent decades. Many of the boys of the scene already had short hair by 1974. According to Oscar: Avril is generally considered the inspiration for most of the St. Hopes female punk fashion. Avril's non-stop wearing of the same clothing made her a fixture of the St. Hopes punk scene, as she became instantly recognizable. Masters Of VD's Blane Whittaker and Stewart Critchley both were some of the earliest to spike their hair. According to Blane, some time in the fall of 1973, he was playing around with hair gel in his bathroom when he found that his hair would spike. He liked it and decided to keep it that way. Stewart began spiking his hair as well after seeing Blane doing it, and the two felt it was extremely rebellious. Stewart later dyed his brown hair peroxide blond. Daisy Millar, Blane's girlfriend, became heavily invested in The Stooges and MC5 after he played her their respective 1969 debut albums, and became fascinated with Nazi imagery. She often wore spray-painted swastika shirts and red/white/black fishnet stockings and was suspended from St. Hopes High as a result. She used it as a basis to form The Death Camp in 1975, which she described in 2017 as: "Taking the Ramones' 'I'm a Nazi baby yes I am' and creating a whole band around it". Mr. Apathy, of the Death Camp, often wore a top hat, giving him a signature status in the rock music world.